Steve Jobs: MobileMe launch was a “mistake” and not “up to Apple’s standards”

Last night Apple CEO Steve Jobs sent an internal email to Apple employees admitting that the MobileMe launch was a mistake, and that they company had a lot to learn. Ars Technica had a chance to look at the email, and provide a few quotes.

Jobs started by saying that the MobileMe launch was “not up to Apple’s standards”, and continued by saying “It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store…We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence.”

As a result of all the problems, the MobileMe team has been restructured and Eddy Cue will now be in charge of all Internet based Apple initiatives, including iTunes, the App Store, and MobileMe.

Jobs concluded by saying : “The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services…and learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year.”

Comments

i think nowadays those “internal” emails that – somehow, magically – always seem to leak out into the open are used more as a means of “viral pr” than to really shake your employees up. steve fessing up to the mistakes “internally” of course appears much more credible and damages the company image much less than if he’d have issued an official statement.

still, here’s to hoping they at least did learn a lesson from all this and improve on things in the future. me, i’m still not coughing up a benjamin for what is basically still just a mail inbox. i don’t need all of that other stuff.

No duh Steve. Apple launches a restructuring of its e-mail and launches “iPhone, The Next Generation,” at the same time. From the people I have spoken to out in the real world who deal with Apple hierarchy, it is just another example of the “gee-whiz kids” having no concept of the real world needs that the grunts at Apple have to deal with in these types of scenarios. Try this from now on: under promise and over deliver. It will make more friends and customers than doing it the other way around.